IRELAND: Minister of
Finance Brian Lenihan claimed last night that the economy hasn’t stalled and
that in spite of a lot of evidence to the contrary it has stabilised. Economic
indicators which had appeared to indicate some economic growth now seem to have
fizzled out. Given Lenihan’s track record it’s no surprise that many will be
sceptical about his claims, especially when the figures seem to demonstrate the
opposite.
On the morning of Saturday 28th August Bradford had become a ghost
town. Pubs, shops and cafes were boarded up and the Saturday shoppers
stayed away. Some landlords had gone one further by piling up all their
beer garden tables and chairs against the doors to keep the trouble
out. The EDL were in town to “peacefully protest” against the supposed
takeover by radical Islam.
Martin Hartnett, a union convenor at Peugeot in Coventry, spoke to Darrall Cozens from Coventry TUC on the upcoming election in Unite for the General Secretary position.
The cuts outlined in the 2010 emergency budget will come as a
hammer-blow to all workers. However, it is working class women –
especially the low paid and single parents – who will be amongst the
hardest hit. For them, the changes to Child Tax Credits and benefits
will be a particularly bitter pill to swallow.
Socialist Appeal Editorial: The Labour leadership election contest will
be ending in September as the ballot papers finally go out. It could
have been an opportunity to discuss a balance-sheet of the right-wing
control of the party under New Labour and an opportunity to discuss a
socialist programme in face of the worst capitalist crisis since the
1930s. However, the contest has left most people cold.
As
the strike by more than a million public sector workers in South Africa
enters its second week, the government has launched an all out attack
against the unions using all powers at its disposal, including the
courts, the police, the Army and the media. The unions have replied by
threatening solidarity action which could involve the police and the
army.
It has now been confirmed that Jerry Hicks is on the ballot paper for
the UNITE general secretary election. With over a quarter of the nominating period to go,
he has already secured more than the required nominations to be able to
declare that he will be a candidate in the coming election, gaining
support from every region and sector of the union.
Nothern Ireland: There
are storm clouds on the horizon for the economy in the North. While the
recession took longer to bite than in the South this only reflects the
weakness of capitalism and the predominance of public sector
employment. There are now as many people who are economically inactive
(26%) than work in “private industry.” But the crisis has now caught up
with a vengeance and it is only going to get worse.
Seventy years since the assassination of Leon
Trotsky bourgeois writers and historians are attempting to bury the man
again. They are constantly demonizing him and his ideas. That is because
they understand that his ideas are not dead, but very alive and have
never been so relevant as they are today, in this period of crisis of
capitalism.
On August 21, 1940 the great
revolutionary fighter, theoretician, and martyr, Leon Trotsky, died of
the wounds inflicted in a brutal attack by a Stalinist agent. To mark
the 70th anniversary of his assassination we want to bring to
the attention of our readers some of the material we published on the
www.marxist.com about the life, work and ideas of Trotsky.
China has been making news due to its powerful
economic growth. The other side of this story, however, is to be found
in the terrible conditions and low pay that many of its workers have to
suffer. Here is one example of a milkman.
The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign
has launched Revolutionary Flood Relief and Protest Committees across
Pakistan, especially in the intensely affected areas, to conduct an
efficient and effective rescue and relief effort. Fifty seven camps from
this campaign have been set up in various regions and the PTUDC is appealing for
help.